


a little mystery to figure out

by helsinkibaby



Category: NCIS
Genre: Community: 1-million-words, Dancing, F/M, Het, Romance, Set Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 13:33:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15631695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: It's supposed to be a night out with friends. Instead Nick finds himself walking into a trap.





	a little mystery to figure out

**Author's Note:**

> For the weekend challenge :  
> Prompt : 7. "We are not dancing, just swaying."
> 
> I changed the wording a smidge and considering I lost three days (Sunday-Tuesday) to a migraine, I'm calling this a win!

It had all begun with Tony DiNozzo. 

Who Nick had never met before, but when the ex-NCIS agent and his daughter were paying a visit to DC, a reunion was swiftly arranged. A reunion that was at first slated to be a family friendly dinner at McGee's apartment, but one that changed, per DiNozzo Senior's suggestion, into a dinner out for adults only. "I'll be there to take care of Tali," he'd told them all as he and Tony had stood in the bullpen, Tali colouring happily at Tony's old desk, occasionally even getting the marks on the paper. "Tim, you get a sitter, couldn't you?" 

Nick, having heard Tim on the topic of trying to get a babysitter, even family members, to mind twins, expected a negative response. To his surprise, Tim had nodded, was reaching for his cell phone straight away. "Sarah was only saying last week she'd love to spend more time with the twins. I'll text her now." 

With Brianna's mother agreeing to babysit Victoria, it was a done deal and using some of Senior's connections, a table big enough for all of them was duly booked. Gibbs came along for the meal, Sloane too, but the two of them looked equally appalled when Tony suggested going dancing somewhere. Well, Sloane looked appalled, Gibbs's expression didn't really change, but Nick definitely saw a furrow deepen in his brow. 

"I'm not sure, Tony..." Tim began, with a glance in Delilah's direction and Tony looked abashed. 

Delilah, meanwhile, glared at her husband. "I think that's an excellent idea, Tony," she said pointedly. "Sarah will be fine with the twins," she added, as if that was Tim's objection. "Nick, you're the party animal, where do you suggest?" 

All heads turned to him and even if Tim's eyes were narrowed, frankly, Nick knew which of the couple he was more scared of. "I can think of a couple of accessible places," he said, scanning through the list of decent places with minimal stairs. 

"Then it's settled." Deliliah beamed at Tony who looked very satisfied as he glanced around the table, his eyes coming to rest on Ellie. 

Which may or may not have caused the skin on Nick's neck to prickle and he raised his glass to his lips, hoping that it would wash away the sudden taste of jealousy. 

It didn't. 

On the short walk to the bar, he told himself he was being ridiculous. Tony and Ellie were just friends, and besides Tony had his whole life in Paris to get back to. 

But Tony had a reputation as a ladies' man and Ellie was looking super hot in a dress that accentuated her slim figure, short enough to show off a killer pair of legs. Her hair was loosely curled, falling around her shoulders and she was wearing a little more makeup than he was used to seeing on her, just enough to bring out her eyes, make her lips all but beg to be kissed...

Nick may have spent a little time staring at her across the table, thinking thoughts that he should not be thinking around Gibbs, who was damn near psychic. 

Nick only took some measure of comfort in the fact that if Gibbs had noticed him checking Ellie out, he would also have noticed that a lot of the time when Nick's eyes were on Ellie?

Her eyes were on him too. 

So all in all it was probably a good thing that Gibbs didn't go dancing with them. Because Nick led the way, Ellie at his side, Jimmy and Brianna following them, with Tim, Delilah and Tony bringing up the rear. And Nick couldn't help but notice that Ellie was standing a lot closer to him than she normally did when they were walking side by side during a case, her arm actually brushing against his as they walked. 

Inside the club, she sat beside him at the table, seven at them squashed around a table for five, which would have made it close quarters even without allowing for Delilah’s wheelchair. McGee and Tony disappeared to get the first round of drinks and the conversation flowed easily between the others, split by gender until McGee and Tony came back. 

That was when Delilah sighed almost theatrically, gazed wistfully at the dance floor and the couples twirling enthusiastically on it. “I miss dancing,” she said to the table at large. Then, to Tim, “Remember when we used to go dancing?”

Tim looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language. “No.” 

His denial made the rest of the group laugh, made Delilah pout, but only for a moment. Then she turned her attention to Jimmy. “Jimmy, you and Brianna need to get out there, show us how it’s done.” 

Jimmy chuckled, holding up his two hands. Brianna, meanwhile, full on belly laughed. “No, thank you.” Jimmy looked at her sharply, mock offended, and Brianna rubbed his shoulder in what was probably meant to be a consoling gesture. “Jimmy, I love you, but you know I also want to be able to walk tomorrow.” 

Jimmy nodded in apparent understanding. “Sad but true... Victoria does keep us on our toes.”

Delilah huffed before turning her gaze on Nick. “Nick.” The name was somewhere between a plea and a challenge. “For the pride and honour of your gender.” McGee looked as if he were seriously thinking of taking her home, or at least cutting her off. “Please tell me you know how to dance.” 

All eyes turned to Nick, who, happily enough did have an answer for this. “Thankfully, for the pride and honour of my gender...” He splayed his hands across his chest. “Yes, Delilah, I can dance.” 

A slow smile spread across Delilah’s face and a gleam came into her eye. Nick suddenly felt like he’d walked right into a trap but he was damned if he could see where. Then Delilah spoke again. 

“I demand you prove it.” 

Ah. There it was. 

Nick made his jaw drop open, all shock and dismay as he declared, “Delilah... these hips do not lie.” 

“Then you have to show us.” Delilah was not for turning and a glance at McGee did not offer any form of gender solidarity. The rest of the occupants of the table seemed similarly disinclined to rescue him. “Come on, it’s not like you’d have to ask a stranger. Ellie loves to dance.” Nick’s head whipped around to Ellie, saw her dropped jaw and wide eyes turn to a forced smile and a narrow eyes stare. “Weren’t you just saying that at the restaurant?” Delilah concluded with an overly innocent look at Ellie. The woman actually batted her eyelashes and Nick suddenly realised the truth. 

This wasn’t a trap.

This was a set up. 

Well planned, well executed and definitely a set up. No wonder Delilah was so in demand at the DOD if this was an example of her skill set. 

But if Nick Torres was caught in a trap? He was going to be caught with style. 

So he shrugged, stood up and held out a hand to Ellie. “Come on, B,” he said, tilting his head in the direction of the dance floor. “Let’s show them how it’s done.” From the corner of his eye, he could see Delilah grinning wide with delight, actually elbowing McGee as if to check if he was seeing this. Tony, Jimmy and Brianna were all wearing equally knowing grins but Ellie just looked unsure, tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear. 

Then she looked at him and grinned, put her hand into his. “Well, if the pride and honour of your gender are at stake...” 

He chuckled as she let her voice trail off, led her out into the middle of the dance floor where the bodies already there would give some relief from watching eyes. The DJ was playing something fast, not quite Gente de Zona but not a million miles away from it and Nick found the rhythm quickly, moved his feet and hips in perfect time, leading Ellie through some simple steps and turns. 

Which she did, easily. 

He found himself thinking, as he watched her hair spin around her face, watched her smile grow even wider, that it shouldn’t be a surprise that she was able to follow his lead on the dance floor like this. After all, from day one on the job, they’d been in sync, working seamlessly together, knowing when to push and when to pull to get the job done. It made him wonder, and not for the first time, how else they might be compatible. The difference this time was that, with Ellie dancing in his arms, it was a lot easier to imagine how else they might move together. 

And when she smiled across the dance floor at him, it was a lot easier to think she might be imagining the same thing. 

One song turned to two turned to three and then the music shifted, slowed, and Nick reacted without thinking. Pulling her close to him, he slipped his right arm around her waist, resting it very carefully and very properly on the small of her back. With his left hand, he took hold of her right, brought them up and let them rest over his heart. He felt her left hand curl around his shoulder as she pressed her body against his and he wasn’t sure that she could blame the fact that she was breathless simply on their energetic dancing. 

“I have to tell you, B,” he said, “you’ve got some pretty good moves.” 

Ellie looked pleased with herself, almost smug. “You’re not so bad yourself.” 

Nick shrugged with the hand holding hers. “Well, I had to uphold the pride and honour of my gender, right?” 

“Trust me, you did.” He tried not to preen. He really did. When she laughed, he knew he hadn’t succeeded that well. 

“You want to keep dancing?” he asked her after a few moments where they’d hardly moved and she lifted one eyebrow. He knew a challenge when he saw it, even before she spoke. 

“We’re not actually dancing,” Ellie reminded him, a curve to her lips that matched the teasing tone of her voice. “Just swaying, really.” 

“True.” He shifted his gaze from her face, high and to the right, not too long, just enough to make it look like he was thinking about it. Then he moved his eyes back to her face again and the look he saw there hadn’t altered one bit. He smiled too, squeezed their joined hands just a little. “But I happen to like the swaying.” 

Her giggle was quiet, but he still heard it, even over the music. “Me too.” 

They swayed in silence a moment longer, hazel eyes staring into brown and Nick could almost - almost - forget about the rest of the team across the room. “You do know,” he said, “that there’s a group of people over there who haven’t taken their eyes off us since the music changed.” 

He was only guessing because he’d barely taken his eyes off her. He thought that she might look around at their friends to check if he was telling her the truth - after all, he did have quite the reputation for telling her things just to drive her crazy. He was mistaken though. Instead, she held his gaze, lifted one eyebrow and said something that surprised the hell out of him. 

“So they’re talking about us again.” 

It was a statement, not a question, said with a toss of her head that had him blinking in surprise. He’d known that people were talking about them behind their backs, asking questions about their relationship. He just didn’t know that Ellie knew that. 

“Again?” 

Ellie rolled her eyes and while she might have looked a bit sheepish, she didn’t look embarrassed. “Senior talked to me earlier... asked me if you’d made a move yet.” Which didn’t sound too bad until she continued, “He said he’d got Tony to ask Tim who didn’t seem to know the answer. Then he reminded me that it was the twenty first century and that women were perfectly capable of making the move themselves.” 

Only the fact that he knew Ellie and therefore knew that she would never make something like that up kept Nick’s jaw from hitting the floor entirely. “So Delilah’s little speech about missing dancing...”

“Could have been true. If a little exaggerated.” A smile made Ellie’s lips twitch and her fingers, curled around his, did likewise. Her other hand, dancer perfect between his shoulder blades, slid a fraction lower and her body shifted, came a little closer to his. 

He didn’t mean to mirror her movement, slide his hand down to the small of her back but that was just what he did. "But we're just dancing. Or... Swaying." His hand moved up her spine and he felt her shiver, saw her eyes dilate. "Aren't we?" 

He knew they weren't. He just wanted - needed - to hear her say it. 

She didn't look away from him, didn't blink. 

She didn't disappoint him either. 

"No." 

There was no flicker of doubt, no hesitation in her voice. A wide grin spread across his face, one that was mirrored on her face too. He brought his face close to hers but, at the last minute, pressed his lips to her cheek instead, lingered there as he murmured into her ear, "I'd rather our first kiss didn't have an audience." 

Her laugh was music to his ears. "Then let's get out of here." 

He hadn't expected her to react like that, but he certainly wasn't going to complain. "You know they're going to talk, right?" 

Ellie slid her hand down his back, skimming along the waist of his jeans, then lower. "Let them talk," she said simply and Nick had to admit that that was a very good idea.


End file.
